In search of justice in Austria's uncomfortable past

In his latest film Schächten, Austrian filmmaker Thomas Roth deals with denazification after the end of the Second World War in Austria and the tracking down of old Nazis in search of justice for the murder of millions of Jews by the Third Reich.

The film is currently being shown as part of the Jewish Film Festival in Australia and highlights a dark chapter in Austrian history in a post-war veil between the role of an invasion victim and the reappraisal of one's own perpetrator role.

In the story, which is based on true events, the young Jewish businessman Victor manages to bring the murderer of his mother and sister to justice in a concentration camp with the help of the famous Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal in Vienna in the 1960s. But the corrupt legal system declares the former Nazi not guilty. Victor then decides to take matters into his own hands.

In the interview, the director talks about how he came across the topic, what questions the film can raise for viewers and what role the self-image of the Austrian population still plays after the war.